Your Health Information
Managing your Health Information
Hunter New England Health is committed to safeguarding the privacy of patient information and has implemented measures to comply with the its obligations under the Health Records and Information Privacy Act, 2002. All staff are bound by the Act and by NSW Health Privacy Policy.
A Patient Information Privacy Leaflet which describes why we collect your health information, how we use and disclose the information and how you can access your information is issued to all patients of Hunter New England Health.
This leaflet if available in other languages at www.health.nsw.gov.au/privacy/leaflets.html
How to access your health information/medical records
Generally, you may see your hospital or health centre medical record or file if you want to.
You should contact the health worker you have been seeing at the hospital or community health centre or the manager to arrange an appointment to see your medical record.
A doctor, nurse, social worker or other health worker will explain to you what is written in the file.
If you want photocopies of parts of your file you will normally have to pay a small charge.
In some cases you will not be able to see your medical record because:
- if it contains information which, by law, cannot be given to you, such as information about another person; or
- if in the opinion of your doctor the information in the file may affect your physical or mental health or well-being. In this case you can ask another doctor to look at the file and decide whether it should be shown to you.
If you are not allowed to see your medical record because of the above reasons you can still apply to see it through Freedom of Information (FOI) or Release of Information (ROI).
How to use Freedom Of Information (FOI) to see your medical records
To use the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to see your files you will need to:
- write a letter to the Hunter New England Health FOI coordinator
Hunter New England Health FOI Coordinator
Locked Mail Bag 1
New Lambton NSW 2305
Lookout Road
New Lambton
- visit the FOI officer and tell her the information that is needed to make the application;
- pay $30.00 for each request, unless you receive a benefit which reduces the fee to $15.00;
- pay a processing fee if there are lengthy investigations.
Find out more about Freedom of Information and Release of Information at Hunter New England Health.
A decision may be made to give the information to a doctor of your choice rather than directly to you.
See Lawlink for more infomation about Freedom of Information in NSW.
© Hunter New England Area Health Service 2005. All rights reserved